IGNITION WEST 2012: NIVPAT, Polkast, Aura Demos and More (Gallery)

Visual search tech from NIVPAT is just one of the technologies our photojournalist caught at Ignition West 2012 in San Francisco. Here’s how it works. Check out her piece for the other cutting edge technologies she found at the San Francisco show this week.

Here at IGNITION West, I took a stroll down the hallway to check out the latest mobile tech. Here’s what I saw.

First up: NIVPAT. Its pattern recognition technology, reps told me, was developed with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). Take a picture — every object gets a unique digital identifier — and suddenly you know who and what the object is.

Co-founder Lucas Boschin of NIVPAT demonstrates how this works — and how easily the tech identifies objects via smartphone with its pattern recognition technology.

If you didn’t have a chance to attend Ignition West, it’s not too late to find out what went on. rappidApp created the official Ignition West app that includes the conference venue, its agenda, speakers, sponsors, and even the latest news. You can download it for free from the Apple Store. An Android version is on its way. Hannah Byrne, CEO and co-founder of rapidApps told me the company provides a real time content management system (CMS) for native mobile apps. RappidApp costs about $29.

According to Bhargav Sri Prakash, CEO at FriendsLearn, learnification is the new edutainment. This firm is behind the EducationUSA app, which helps international students learn about educational opportunities in the United States. FriendsLearn is also set to launch Fooya. This is a 3D food fight for Facebook — product placement is the way this firm makes money, in case you were wondering.

FriendsLearn’s EducationUSA app shows you how to build your own avatar.

Polkast lets you retain personal ownership of all your files on your own devices. It allows you to connect to your computer from mobile devices, too. There are no storage limits. It’s free and available for download now. Polkast shares how easy its free service is to use. Let us know what you think.

If you’re a developer who’s familiar with HTML5, check out AppGyver. Through its platform developers are able to build native mobile apps from a single HTML5 codebase. It uses Javascript-based APIs to access native mobile features like GPS and push notifications. As of now, it’s focused only on Android and iPhone platforms. The Finnish firm, a member of the Finpro, has offices in Mountain View, CA. Henry Vahakainu, CMO at AppGyver, says, “Anybody who makes a website can make a mobile app.”

Aura tracks your body data — or as the professionals in the biz call it, bio metric data. This technology measures your heart rate and other body metrics through the clothes you’re wearing. So while you’re out for a run sporting one of its tech-enhanced gloves, it measures your heart rate. The firm has built the hardware and software for Aura and is targeting consumer activewear companies. It’s currently in private beta.

Check out these pics and brochures from the mobile tech providers I met with at the show.